First Impression of COP 24

First Impression of COP 24

By, Jessica Buttner

Moravian College Class of 2019

COP stands for Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Countries from around the world including Korea, South Africa, and England come together each year to discuss ways to combat climate change worldwide. Every year the conference location changes, and this year the host is Katowice, Poland.

Attending a United Nations conference can be slightly overwhelming in the beginning because, at least for me, it can be the first time you may be exposed to several new cultures at once. But don't worry! After a few days, you will get in the swing of things, and your experience will feel natural.

Upon arriving at the conference, something I found interesting, and comforting, during my first few days was that most people at the conference speak English. Also, if you ever run into a session where the speaker does not speak English, COP provides headsets hooked to translators of many different languages. I tried listening to all of the languages translated on the headset, and it is pretty impressive how inclusive this conference is.

Every day, teleprompters scroll through a list of events and indicate whether or not they are "open" to everyone. I had an observer badge, meaning I could attend all of the "open" sessions. The nice thing about this conference is that there is A LOT to do. You can even follow a series of similar events in specific disciplines. I met people following displacement, climate change and gender, biodiversity, air pollution, etc. There is something for everyone and many sessions touch on multiple topics. I personally followed human rights related events as well as displacement.

My favorite section of this venue is the Countries Pavilion. At this location, countries from around the world display their commitment to climate change and welcome everyone to sessions specific to them. I attended Indonesia's opening event and listened to their world leaders speak on how their people are affected, tried some coffee, and watched a cultural dance.

Out of all the pavilions, India had impressed me the most. They used holograms to talk about wind energy and their pavilion was composed of beautifully carved wood. Each country was welcoming and genuinely concerned about the same topic: climate change. The most impactful take away I had my first few days was understanding how so many people from different countries, cultures, economic standing, languages, etc. could come together to discuss a game plan to help everyone and our world at large. The thing that impressed me the most about the work completed at COP's is the commitment to helping any country even if the country does not participate in the Paris Agreement. An emphasis on the protection of our earth and humanity radiates here.

Last, from my previous research about Poland, I was shocked that they were hosting the conference due to their large history with coal mining. However, after listening to their president talk and taking a look at the city, I realized my perception of Katowice, Poland was not very accurate. Katowice has a new modern-city feel and although there is a history, and current practices, of coal mining, Poland is making some progress to reduce carbon emissions. Taking a look at what Katowice looked like before as a coal mining hub to present day, you can definitely tell progress is being made.



P.S. Another little difference about Poland, at least at the conference center, is the coffee comes in small cups... not jumbo sizes like in the US, and the majority of doors need to be pushed, not pulled. Although I ran into a few doors in my first couple of days and tried to order different sized cups of coffee, I looked like a natural in no time!